Is it good to concentrate on your strengths?

People are most successful when they’re matched with activities they love to do, according to a Stanford University study of 250,000 people.

The study concluded that high intelligence didn’t guarantee high accomplishment. Hard work and enthusiasm in the field of choice was the leading indicator of success.

Implications for you: Instead of spending time trying to correct weaknesses, focus on developing a special talent. Here’s how to do it:

• Pick one strength to pursue. Excellence is a product of hard work and liking what you do. Adjust your goals to target your strengths.

• Ignore weaknesses that won’t hinder you. Work on a problem only if it lessens your productivity. Let strengths overpower your weaknesses.

• Recognize your self-importance. If you deem yourself unworthy of respect, so will everyone else. Self-esteem comes before peer esteem.

Source: Soar With Your Strengths, by Donald Clifton. Published by Nelson, 415-288-0260.

Define Success

Success is just completing something the way you intended to complete it.

Do you have to make a choice between being content and being ambitious?

There has to be a balance between ambition and contentment. It is good to achieve and ambition can be just the pursuit of achievement. It is good to have ease of mind. Contentment is just ease of mind. These two words do not necessarily exclude each other. However, they can exclude each other if we are being selfish about our ambition. There is no contentment with selfish ambition. They can also exclude each other if we are satisfied with failure. There is nothing ambitious about being content with failure.

Can there be too much information? How do you decide what to ignore?

"Too much information" depends on the source. If the source is questionable, any information is too much information. However, if the source is completely trustworthy, any little nugget of information could be valuable and the information can "keep on coming".